As a professional, teaching high school classes, Carlos realized that something was missing in his life. "He kept insisting and in the end, with fear, I said yes to God and it is the greatest adventure that God has granted me," says this seminarian of the Church of Venezuela.
The rector of the seminary of this diocese of the Church of Venezuela, who was 33 years old and had already been a priest for 8 years, replied: "Thank God for allowing you to live, graduate, work, experience the world and realize that one thing is important, to say yes to the Lord". Carlos has a degree in Education and, before entering the seminary, he was a high school teacher of subjects such as Mathematics, Physics and Technical Drawing.
In this interview he tells us about his vocation, the influence of his family and the evangelization of the Church in Venezuela. Ten seminarians from four Venezuelan dioceses (Margarita, El Vigía-San Carlos, Punto Fijo and Cabimas) currently reside in Bidasoa.
- Thank you very much, Carlos, for sharing your testimony with us. You tell me that your family supported you in your decision to leave everything to become a priest.
I am the second of three siblings. My father, Carlos, is a retired public accountant and university professor and my mother, Edith, is a retired office worker in a university institute. When I told them that I was leaving everything and that I was going to start my seminary process, they supported me. Thank God, my parents have always wanted to see my siblings and me happy, although they were a little afraid that I was making a mistake. My dad just told me: "If it is your decision and that is what you want for your life, keep in mind that we will always be here to support you in whatever you want to do".
- And, moreover, since you have been a seminarian, your parents have increased their practices of piety.
At that time my parents did not attend Mass frequently, they only went to Mass occasionally. But when they entered the seminary, they began to attend Mass more frequently and they continue to do so today. I can say that the Lord is preparing me to be a priest, he is taking my place in the space I have left at home and is showing his love to those who have lovingly given a son to the Church of Venezuela.
- Your grandmother's faith and her example have also influenced you greatly in your vocational discernment.
I think my grandmother Aida was God's second instrument for me to know His ways. She never forced me to go to church with her, but when I was little I would see her go off by herself and it worried me. So I started to accompany her, without knowing that this was a way that God was showing me the way to discover his Love.
The relationship between grandmother and grandson grew, because on the days when she could not go because of her health, when she saw me enthusiastic, she would tell me: Carlos Alberto, if you want to go, go, let's go together, now I am the one who wants to accompany you. Thanks to accompanying my grandmother to Mass, a group of young people invited me to be part of their group and little by little I discovered how wonderful it is to serve the Lord.
- You are 36 years old, you have worked as a teacher, you know the concerns of young people. How, in your opinion, does the priest of the 21st century have to be in order to serve the Lord in this era?
I have to say that each of the three parish priests I have known, since my first communion in 1998 until 2014, when I entered the seminary, have been key in my vocational process. They have been fathers who have taught, educated, corrected and accompanied me with all the charity in the world in the parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of the Diocese of Cabimas, of the Church of Venezuela. They gave me a lot of example. That is why I believe that a priest should be someone who, knowing that he is not perfect, asks God every day for the grace to be his instrument. May he teach the people the correct doctrine of the Church, may he educate them on the revealed truth, may he correct them when necessary with the sole purpose of giving the best of ourselves to God, may he accompany them in every experience and may his actions never lack prayer as a direct link between man and God.
And also that he be able to help discern and be an example of a happy, joyful man, who demonstrates by his actions that leaving everything for the Lord is a great life decision.
- How were your first years in the seminary in Venezuela?
In Venezuela, I was able to attend a propaedeutic year at the seminary El Buen Pastor, in my diocese of the Church of Venezuela, and then 3 years at the Major Seminary of St. Thomas Aquinas in the neighboring archdiocese. Each of the years has marked my life. I keep great memories, moments of difficulties that were overcome, of learning and examples of priests who, with their actions, showed that the Lord calls us every day. In each of those years there was no lack of signs that the Lord wanted something from me being who I am.
God has been so great that He has taken me out of my country to another continent to continue my formation process. The reality of my country is no secret to anyone, doing everything possible to come here meant thinking that it would be impossible, although there were moments of despair. But God always shows his goodness and miraculously I complied and got all the necessary documentation in a short time. This leads me to be convinced that God wanted me to continue in the Bidasoa International Seminar, where at every moment I can see the catholicity of the Church, share with brothers and sisters from many parts of the world, help and advise each other, explain details that I have had to learn myself and discover together that this is the Church.
- Venezuela is still going through a delicate situation, although perhaps now with more freedom than our Nicaraguan brothers. Is it difficult to be a Catholic in Venezuela?
Difficulty will never disappear in the Church of Venezuela, nor in Nicaragua, nor anywhere in the world, it is part of the life of the human being. But over all difficulties reigns Love, that leads us to learn to stand firm in adversity and prosperity. In all the history of Salvation, up to our days, there have always been difficulties that are overcome by men with the help of God.
Although it is difficult to be Catholic in Venezuela, The fact that the parishes are full of adults, young people and children who are thirsty for God is a motivating factor, who discover in Him the strength to continue, who at specific moments, in the midst of dangers, go out into the streets to share the word of God, fulfilling the missionary mandate, with the sole purpose that, through them, others may discover the love of God.
All this motivates me to continue preparing myself to return, to help and support my country, being an instrument of God so that it can reach the places where it has not yet been able to go.
- How are the young people in Venezuela? How can the Catholic faith be transmitted to them with so much secularization and influence of Protestantism?
Once they discover that the Venezuelan Church is a place where they can grow, learn and love, it leads them to invent means of evangelization coherent with what the Church asks for in order to call people to an encounter with God.
Many of these young people have left the country due to economic needs, but, amazingly, the relay generation is evident. Those who were children when I came to Spain are now teenagers willing to give their all for God, following the example of those they saw as children.
We are not free from secularization and Protestantism, but in spite of this, God continues to call. Young people continue to be integrated and they invite other young people. In spite of so many problems, God continues manifesting himself and inviting us to take his love to every corner of each of the dioceses of the Church of Venezuela.
Marta Santín
Journalist specializing in religious information.
